TV News: KEVIN SMITH APPEARS IN A 3-EPISODE SEASON FINALE ARC OF DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION

TV News: KEVIN SMITH APPEARS IN A 3-EPISODE SEASON FINALE ARC OF DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION

The show will have him show up at the high school with actor Jason Mewes to film the fictitious JAY AND SILENT BOB GO CANADIAN

By: CARL CORTEZ

Contributing Editor

LOCATION: Beyond the fringes of View Askew

THE SKINNY: After years of mutual admiration and attempts at collaboration, DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION and actor/writer/director Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy) have joined creative forces, as The N, the nighttime network for teens, wraps up season four of the network’s hit series with special guest appearances by Smith.

Smith and actor Jason Mewes (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back) play themselves in all three episodes of the three-part season finale. Alanis Morissette joins the duo in the second of the three half-hour episodes. Morissette plays the Canadian principal who accepts Jay and Silent Bob so they may graduate. The finale will roll out for three consecutive Friday nights — August 12, August 19 and August 26 at 8:00 pm.

In the Degrassi season finale, Smith travels to Canada to film a fictional sequel to the cult-hit Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. For the ‘sequel’ titled, Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!, director Kevin Smith has chosen Degrassi as the perfect Canadian high school for the shoot. In the Degrassi / J&SB storyline, Jay and Silent Bob (played by Mewes and Smith) come to Canada to get a high school diploma since no high school in the United States will take them. Smith said, “The plot of the movie within the show is so funny, it almost makes me want to shoot the flick for real.”

To his legions of fans on both sides of the border and around the world, Kevin Smith has surpassed cult hero status with a body of work that includes titles Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma, the “Jersey Trilogy” of Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy and his most recent title, Jersey Girl.

The three-episode finale is as follows:

* “West End Girls” — Premieres Friday, August 12, 8:00 & 10:00 p.m.
— With a common ex-boyfriend, competing Spirit Squad leadership
ambitions, and Manny’s public revelation of Paige and Matt’s affair,
Paige and Manny cannot stand each other. And none of this is helped by
their shared desire to be Prom Queen. But with the claws bared and the
fur flying, these “mean girls” take their war too far. Meanwhile, a
chance at stardom could spell the end for Craig and Ashley.

* “Goin’ Down The Road” Part 1 — Premieres August 19, 8:00 & 10:00 p.m.
— Alanis Morissette makes a cameo appearance as she plays the
Canadian principal who accepts Jay and Silent Bob so they may graduate.

Kevin Smith is filming his hot new movie at Degrassi, and while Craig’s
thrilled to be helping out, he’s destroyed over the fact that Ashley is
going to England without him. Now he needs to figure out what’s really
important to him, his health or his love? And Ashley may have another
take on things altogether. Meanwhile, Caitlin’s been spending a lot of
time with Kevin Smith, and she’s beginning to once again doubt her
relationship with Joey.

* “Goin’ Down The Road” Part 2 — Premieres August 26, 8:00 & 10:00 p.m.
— Without his medication, Craig’s life seems to be falling apart:
he’s fighting with Joey, he’s leaving home again, and when he’s kicked
off Kevin Smith’s set after a huge blow-up, Craig has nowhere to run.
Meanwhile, Caitlin is no closer to figuring out her situation with Joey
and Kevin Smith, but running away from it all is sure looking good to
her, too.

Smith recounted how he first encountered Degrassi in a November, 1996 article he wrote for Details Magazine, entitled ‘Obsession Confession’. In the piece, Smith confesses: “I used to work at this convenience store, and on Sunday mornings the only thing that kept me from gutting the customers in a sleepy rage was Degrassi Junior High. See, I had to put the papers together, and I did it while watching double episodes of Degrassi on PBS…” Shortly thereafter, Smith went on to create Clerks (1994), his first “Jersey” Trilogy title and even named one if its characters Caitlin, after his favorite Degrassi character.

Smith and series producer Linda Schuyler kept in touch ever since and the mutual admiration was obvious. Smith is renowned for making references to Degrassi in his movies Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy. In Chasing Amy, Jason Lee and Ben Affleck discuss their plans for the evening. Ben’s plans include clubbing. Jason, on the other hand, opts for a pizza and watching Degrassi Junior High, an option that intrigues his co-star.